AIDs

Finding out who tests positive for the H-I-V virus and getting them treated are cornerstones of a central New York strategy to meet the state’s goal of ending AIDS by 2020.

HIV testing by ACR Health is already up 20 percent since December, after a new push to get more people tested according to Jeanette O’Connor-Shanley, the agency's director of support services. And when individuals test positive, they move on to the next part of their strategy to cut back on the number of new aids patients.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced a blue print for ending the AIDs epidemic in New York by 2020.

Speaking before an enthusiastic audience outside the LGBT Community Center in Greenwich Village , Cuomo says it’s possible to make AIDS, which has killed an estimated 153,000 New Yorkers, a disease of the past.

“Like tuberculosis, and measles and polio,” Cuomo said, to applause.

The recommendations include better testing and screening and wider distribution of drug treatments.

Though miscarriages can often go unnoticed, they are tremendous losses to the mothers who experience them. Certified nurse midwife Kathleen Dermady explains the symptoms of miscarriage, and Dr. Shawky Badawy goes over the causes.

"Sometimes they have the feeling of blaming themselves," Badawy says of the mothers, "but they are not to blame."

Also this week: how to obtain the prescription drug that can prevent the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS -- plus, nutrition and healthy weight.

In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, a positive diagnosis was virtually a death sentence. Today, a person taking antiretroviral medications can live long term with the disease as a chronic infection. Now researchers are looking into why the aging population living with HIV/AIDS is at greater risk for heart disease and stroke.

Clinical researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center will use a $3.8 million grant to investigate why people treated with antiretrovirals for HIV have higher than average rates of heart disease and stroke.

ACR Health Prevention Services in Syracuse is looking for ways to reduce HIV and hepatitis C infection rates in New York state prisons.

According to federal statistics, inmates have the highest rate of HIV in New York, compared to any other state, and many of those inmates are co-infected with hepatitis C. To fight that, the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS has a campaign that emphasizes public awareness, education and access to testing and treatment.

She advises parents to keep careful watch of a sick child, especially if he or she has asthma, and seek care if the child develops trouble breathing.

Enterovirus D68 is the highly contagious respiratory infection that is making children sick across the United States and was detected in New York earlier this month. “It’s likely to spread and become an epidemic,” Shaw says.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced a plan he hopes will end the AIDS epidemic in New York state by the year 2020, but much of what’s involved in the three-point program is already being done.

The governor's program is called “Bending the Curve," and concentrates on three things: identifying people who test HIV positive; linking those people to healthcare and connecting them to anti-HIV therapy to prevent further transmission; and stopping high-risk behavior among others to keep them HIV negative.

The sharp reduction in diabetic complications is encouraging news for more than 21 million Americans who have been diagnosed with the disease. Federal researchers recently showed about 2/3 fewer heart attacks, 50 percent fewer strokes and amputations, and 30 percent fewer incidents of kidney failure among people with diabetes over the past two decades.

ACR Health in Syracuse is hoping a successful nutrition program can be expanded to serve others in the community, but right now its nutritional education program currently only has funding to serve clients with HIV/AIDS.

Brian Cowden, 50, has been living with HIV since he was 19. On medication to control the disease, Cowden says he never felt good, complaining of gastrointestinal problems, migraines, sleep issues. But after joining ACR Health’s nutritional program, that all went away.

Half the people who contract HIV in the United States are African-American, according to statistics released last year. Advocates hope National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which is today, leads to more education about the disease in the black community. Locally, there will be a push to do just that in Syracuse this weekend.

Advancements in AIDS treatment means that people with the illness are living longer than ever. That means they need to take better care of their long-term health. A new program for AIDS patients in the north country focuses on improving their nutrition.

World AIDS Day was remembered in Syracuse this morning during a service of remembrance. Participants say they are worried that the disease, which has been around for over 30 years now, has become forgotten.